Inscribed on a column of the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek city of Delphi was the philosophical axiom: know thyself. These words are attributed to Socrates when asked about the totality of ALL philosophical axioms. He supposedly replied, “The unexamined life is not worth living. Know thyself.” I am reminded of Our Lord’s response to the scribe who asked about the “greatest commandment.” Jesus replied with the Shema, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.[a] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
Even though we know that Christianity was formed in the crucible of Greek philosophy, what could the words of an Aramaic-speaking Jewish man of the first century CE and a Greek-speaking man of the fourth century BCE have in common?
A hint lies in the second chapter of the Gospel of John, where we read how the people who encountered Jesus in Jerusalem during Passover were enamored of him and the signs he showed. Yet, the Scripture says that Jesus was not moved by their admiration and pleasure because he understood human beings’ fickle nature. (cf. vv24-25) In other words, they “believed” in him, but he did not “believe” in them. The same Greek word, pisteuo, is used for “entrust” and “believe” in this verse: Jesus knew that the likes and dislikes of unenlightened human nature shift like the sands of time.
It is important to know who we are at our core because that is all that remains of us. We are each “one heartbeat away from physical death,” as one spiritual teacher puts it. To know ourselves is to recognize our multi-dimensional nature, usually accessed only in dreams and visions, meditation, or deep prayer, and to identify with that nature instead of the one we usually attach ourselves to (roles in life, material possessions, people, places, or other things).
If G-D, the Creator of all things, is ONE, then all that is created is a manifestation of that creator’s Oneness in a variety of forms—animal, vegetable, or mineral. We humans are also of oneness—a spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical whole. Studying and learning to understand who we are enables us to understand why we are here, ordaining purpose for living in this place and at this time.
Do not be fooled; we are each as much a part of all (the good, the bad, and the ugly) that occurs on this planet as any person we could choose to point a finger at. We, members of the human collective, are ONE and manifestations of the Unity, the very fabric of all that IS. Likewise, being expressions of the DIVINE ONE makes us, at our core, lovers, just like G-D. It is the imago dei within us. In this dual reality, we live betwixt and between love and hate, war and peace, joy and sorrow, life and death. Our earthly learning is about balance and harmony of all we think, do, or say.
To know ourselves is to hold our loving, generous, kind, peaceful, patient, and whole (holy) natures as well as our anger, fears, insecurities, manipulations, avoidances, and feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness, and doubts simultaneously—with compassion. No small work, but Jesus did it, and we can do it too. The Spirit of G-D lives in that inner-dimensional space to help us when (if) we ask. We have our whole lives to become as Jesus was (is) because there is always more.
It is this possibility of more that can be our catalyst into the unknown and to seek to shift and change from what is to what can be. In the book, Prayers of the Cosmos, we understood the ONE Jesus called “Father” as total all-encompassing POSSIBILITY. This dynamism is so out of alignment with our feared need for stability and unchangeability that it shuts out the Mystery of what can be. But, this may be the only place left to stand in at the end of this present darkness.
The season of Eastertide in the Christian church is a wide-open door to celebrate LIFE in its fullness, even after so-called “death.” Like Christ Jesus, the stories we listen to during our current adult forums talk of rebirth and new, true life, where the old life is surrendered for something new and amazingly GOOD! We can honor the feelings of fear, loss, and darkness with compassion for ourselves while expecting and looking forward to the Light of the new life to erupt within us and in the world around us, just like winter inevitably cycles into spring. Know yourself. You are SO LOVED!